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Two cats curled up together Cats conserve energy by sleeping more than most animals, especially as they grow older. The daily duration of sleep varies, usually 12–16 hours, with 13–14 being the average. Some cats can sleep as much as 20 hours in a 24-hour period. The term cat nap refers to the cat's ability to fall asleep (lightly) for a brief period and has entered the English lexicon—someone who nods off for a few minutes is said to be "taking a cat nap".
Due to their crepuscular nature, cats often enter a period of increased activity and playfulness during the evening and early morning, dubbed the "evening crazies", "night crazies", "elevenses", "crazies", or "mad half-hour" by some. The temperament of a cat can vary depending on the breed and socialization. Cats with oriental body types tend to be thinner and more active, while cats that have a cobby body type tend to be heavier and less active.
The normal body temperature of a cat is between 38 and 39 °C (101 and 102.2 °F). A cat is considered febrile (hyperthermic) if it has a temperature of 39.5 °C (103 °F) or greater, or hypothermic if less than 37.5 °C (100 °F). For comparison, humans have a normal temperature of approximately 36.8 °C (98.6 °F). A domestic cat's normal heart rate is around 165 beats per minute (bpm), about twice that of a human (average 80 bpm), but cats' heart rates can vary widely, even reaching around 300 bpm.
In captivity, indoor cats typically live 14 to 20 years, though the oldest known cat lived to age 36. Domesticated cats tend to live longer if they are not permitted to go outdoors (reducing the risk of injury from fights or accidents and exposure to diseases) and if they are neutered. Some benefits of neutering are that castrated males cannot develop testicular cancer, spayed females cannot develop ovarian cancer, and both have a reduced risk of mammary cancer. The lifespan of feral cats is hard to determine accurately, although one study reported a median age of 4.7 years, with a range between 0 to 10 years.
A cat carrying a house mouse home to eat.Cats are obligate carnivores: their physiology has evolved to efficiently process meat, and they have difficulty digesting plant matter. Cats are unusually dependent on a constant supply of the amino acid arginine, a diet lacking arginine causes marked weight loss and can be rapidly fatal. The cat also cannot produce the amino acid taurine, and taurine deficiency can cause a condition called macular degeneration where the cat's retina slowly degenerates, causing irreversible blindness. Similar to its teeth, a cat's digestive tract has adapted to meat eating, containing only those segments of intestine best able to break down the proteins and fats in animal flesh. This trait severely limits the cat's ability to properly digest and use plant-derived nutrients, as well as certain fatty acids. Despite the cat's meat-oriented physiology, several vegetarian or vegan cat foods are available that are supplemented with chemically synthesized taurine and other nutrients, in attempts to address nutritional shortfalls. However, some of these products still fail to provide all the nutrients that cats require and diets containing no animal products pose the risk of causing severe nutritional deficiencies
Due to their crepuscular nature, cats often enter a period of increased activity and playfulness during the evening and early morning, dubbed the "evening crazies", "night crazies", "elevenses", "crazies", or "mad half-hour" by some. The temperament of a cat can vary depending on the breed and socialization. Cats with oriental body types tend to be thinner and more active, while cats that have a cobby body type tend to be heavier and less active.
The normal body temperature of a cat is between 38 and 39 °C (101 and 102.2 °F). A cat is considered febrile (hyperthermic) if it has a temperature of 39.5 °C (103 °F) or greater, or hypothermic if less than 37.5 °C (100 °F). For comparison, humans have a normal temperature of approximately 36.8 °C (98.6 °F). A domestic cat's normal heart rate is around 165 beats per minute (bpm), about twice that of a human (average 80 bpm), but cats' heart rates can vary widely, even reaching around 300 bpm.
In captivity, indoor cats typically live 14 to 20 years, though the oldest known cat lived to age 36. Domesticated cats tend to live longer if they are not permitted to go outdoors (reducing the risk of injury from fights or accidents and exposure to diseases) and if they are neutered. Some benefits of neutering are that castrated males cannot develop testicular cancer, spayed females cannot develop ovarian cancer, and both have a reduced risk of mammary cancer. The lifespan of feral cats is hard to determine accurately, although one study reported a median age of 4.7 years, with a range between 0 to 10 years.
A cat carrying a house mouse home to eat.Cats are obligate carnivores: their physiology has evolved to efficiently process meat, and they have difficulty digesting plant matter. Cats are unusually dependent on a constant supply of the amino acid arginine, a diet lacking arginine causes marked weight loss and can be rapidly fatal. The cat also cannot produce the amino acid taurine, and taurine deficiency can cause a condition called macular degeneration where the cat's retina slowly degenerates, causing irreversible blindness. Similar to its teeth, a cat's digestive tract has adapted to meat eating, containing only those segments of intestine best able to break down the proteins and fats in animal flesh. This trait severely limits the cat's ability to properly digest and use plant-derived nutrients, as well as certain fatty acids. Despite the cat's meat-oriented physiology, several vegetarian or vegan cat foods are available that are supplemented with chemically synthesized taurine and other nutrients, in attempts to address nutritional shortfalls. However, some of these products still fail to provide all the nutrients that cats require and diets containing no animal products pose the risk of causing severe nutritional deficiencies
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